that we, the american people, are committed to enforcing. we shouldn't pass laws that we don't fully intend to enforce. it's a stern but worthy test, a test that i'm going to insist on in every discussion here. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "politicsnation" with al sharpton starts right now. thanks, chris, and thanks to you for tuning in. tonight's lead, right wing horror show. a stunning offensive display from the far right, a zombie target that appears to resemble president obama. sold for shooting practice at this weekend's nra convention. the target is officially named rocky. though customers online call it barry, both apparently for barack obama. fake blood leaks from the target when it is shot. buzzfeed broke this story and reports that nra asked the

vendor to take it down after two days on display but still let them sell it from behind the counter. it was displayed at the same convention that featured gop presidential contenders like ted cruz and rick santorum. this is ugly stuff, disturbing stuff. it evokes the worst of what we've seen from the far right when it comes to this president. they painted him as the joker from batman. they put up billboards comparing him to hitler and gave him a mustache at tea party rallies. they even joked that he supposedly resembles satan in a tv show about the bible. the rhetoric that says this president is unamerican, that he doesn't understand america, that he perhaps even hates america. today the nra got a new leader,

a pro gun activist named james porter. just last year, he was calling barack obama, quote, a fake president. listen to him. >> i get so sick and tired of all these people with this fake president that we've got who wants to say, you know, he hadn't done anything bad. i said, let me tell you something bad that he's done. his entire administration is antigun, anti-freedom, anti-second amendment. >> anti-freedom? a fake president? this is the kind of talk that we hear from the new leader of the nra? it has no place in a civil debate but it was literally on center stage at the nra convention this weekend. again and again from those who command real respect in today's republican party. >> the freedom of all mankind, make no mistake, is at stake.

>> obama liberals want to disregard the first amendment and take away our rights to speak in political speech. >> this president flying in grieving parents making them a backdrop at campaign events. >> already they are regrouping, planning, preparing, organizing, even waiting for, quote, the next newtown, the next senseless, horrific crime to exploit. >> america's moving forward. we're moving toward a new push for sensible gun laws. but the nra and its cheerleaders are stuck in its past. joining me now, former pennsylvania governor ed rendell and sirius xm radio host joe madison.

we've yet to hear back from the nra but we did get a statement from the people who sold to this zombie target. they told us, quote, to discriminate against african-americans by not having them represented in our product selection would be just plain racist. any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental. we are sorry if anyone takes offense to any of our products. joe, i've got to ask you about this display at the convention. >> well, they are sorry. they are a sorry bunch of people that i can't use words for but i do take offense and i think anyone else would take offense at this. this is beyond the pale. this is lower than a snake's belly. let me tell you something, it even goes back to today on our show, a talk show personality that, listen to this, said he

wants 10,000 people to rsvp to bring loaded rifles to washington, d.c., on the fourth of july when they are as a protest, as of a civil disobedience and i swear i will be there on that bridge by myself if i have to. look, i am saying to sensible human beings, you know what, we're not opposed to first amendment. keep talking. keep doing this dumb -- this stupid stuff and you're going to lose not only this generals rags, you're going to lose the intersection generation because nobody in their right mind wants to be identified with this. nobody in their right mind. >> we all have exchanges, disagreement, certainly i've been a passionate activist all my life. but zombies with blood resembling the president, the

president as satan in the bible? i mean, all of these coincidental likenesses of the president, buzzfeed's article says that the zombie booth said -- i'm quoting -- when asked if the obama likeness was intentional, the worker said, let's just say i gave my republican father one for christmas. i mean, this kind of vile ugliness is way over the line, governor. >> well, it is ugly, rev. if the republican party doesn't divorce itself from this really quickly, they will be true zombies. they will be the walking dead. >> that's right. >> because the american people hate this stuff. they hate this stuff. even if they don't like president obama, they hate this stuff. they hate their children to see it. that he is an organization -- think about this. a few short years ago approved

universal background checks and that's all the president was trying to do and yet they lied. i saw senator kelly ayotte last week, she said in an answer to a town meeting, i supported this because it was going to establish a federal registry. either she hasn't read the bill or she's lying. it make it is a crime to try to establish a federal registry. it's in the bill. the nra is out of touch with it is own members and it's turning off the american people and when the republicans align themselves with the nra, they are signing their death warrant for 2016 for sure and maybe 2014. >> you know, what concerns me, joe, the climate it sets where we get people in such a frenzy that it is a dangerous, unhealthy climate for the country and for the entire

dialogue that we ought to be having about helping and dealing with people in this country. let me go back to some of the facts that come out of this. a poll last month, 44% of republicans say they think armed revolution may be necessary in order to protect our liberties. armed revolution. another poll last year, 30% of republicans said they believed president obama is a muslim. and then you have glenn beck while giving a key note speech at this nra convention, he unveiled an ugly of mayor bloomberg, not just president obama, michael bloomberg, they unveiled an image of him giving a nazi salute. here's a jewish man being projected as a nazi. let me show you the glenn beck saying it so you know i'm not making this up. >> i've come up with a new advertising for new york.

we all know i heart new york. i've come up with my new slogan. there it is. you will love new york. >> i mean, how much can someone say -- here you have the man of new york who happens to disagree with them on gun legislation but he's a jewish american being projected as a nazi? >> he can bend over and kiss his butt good-bye. i mean, let me tell you -- and listen to the audience. it's a divided audience. if you listen carefully, you can hear the gasp even in that nra convention. look, man, i went to your conference. it was respectful. we had debates. people agreed and disagreed, we've never seen this type of thing and the sad thing is, you can't have a dialogue with people like that.

there is no discussion and all it takes -- i'm just telling people now, all it takes is one fool, one spark and we've got a major problem in this country and we need to avoid it. >> the whole climate, the poisonous atmosphere is no good and i've had bill o'reilly and sean hannity. you have passionate views but you don't do this stuff. glenn beck and wayne lapierre both invoked the boston bombings at this nra convention. >> that's ridiculous. >> how many bostonians wish they had a gun two weeks ago. >> in the people's republic of cambridge -- that wasn't meant to be a laugh line. that's what it is, i think. the people's republic of cambridge. >> now, this is the kind of

stuff that glenn beck and lapierre, the nazi salute by the mayor, yet you have mainstream, quote, republican politicians there. candidates for president that ran and some being projected to run in 2016. is this the kind of forum they ought to be at? >> no. not only should they not be at the forum but even those candidates that didn't go should denounce what happened, should denounce the clearly referenced president obama with the target. they should denounce it and say this is not what america is all about. from a political standpoint, this is good for the things that you and i believe in. it turns off the average person. but joe make as very good point and the point is that if that's somebody disturbed out there who does believe in the nra stuff, they may be prompted to take that gun to washington and they

may be prompted to maybe even think about doing something to the president. and last the type of thing that's very disturbing. it's very disturbing because it almost promotes an atmosphere where violence in the name of the defense of the second amendment is acceptable. you remember sharron angle when she was running against harry reid said it's time for to us do second amendment remedies to people who don't support our case and when asked what second remedy amendments were, she replied, take a gun to someone you disagree with. that's nuts. >> what happened to gabby giffords. >> absolutely. >> this is the kind of poison that we have to stop and we have to expose it like any surgery. you've got to expose something before you can surgically cut it out. that's why i wanted to bring it out. >> you, joe, and i can't expose

it. it's going to be the mainline saying, that's enough. >> well, where is the mainline courage? >> courage? there is no courage. >> i've toured with newt gingrich. we are trying to show that we can have civil disagreement but this kind of ugliness that is veiled and unveiled is not tolerated. this is wrong. this is what we must see. >> if they encourage, we'd have universe stall background checks passed in the law. >> well, i would settle for condemnation of the zombie thing and then let's take more universal background checks. thank you for your time tonight. >> they don't deserve to be president of anything. >> ahead, why our rape victims losing access to recovery programs? the right's terrible political choices are threatening americans. and from hot air to hot

seat, rush limbaugh's got a big problem tonight. and president obama meets right wing doom and gloom with a message of hope. stay with us. we don't think the government is the source of all our problems either because we understand that this democracy is ours and as citizens we understand that it's not about what america can do for us, it's about what can be done by us together. through the hard and frustrating but absolutely necessary work of self-government. look what mommy is having.

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congress is back at work today which means for republican lawmakers turning a blind eye to the horrific budget cuts hurting americans all across the country. today "mother jones" reports programs that fight domestic violence and sexual assault will lose $20 million this year, meaning more than 70,000 victims of domestic violence won't have access to recovery programs and shelters. thousands of abused women and children with nowhere to go. the director of one shelter in utah says it's already happened. >> we literally had a lady call, she had four children and begged to get in our program, she said, i had 45 minutes to get out and we said, we're sorry, we don't have any room and then the police call and say that she's been abused again. >> because of these budget cuts, they couldn't afford to protect

a battered woman. and unfortunately, these stories aren't getting the national attention they deserve. it's only on a local level that you start to see the real impact of these cuts. >> fewer meals on wheels. our most vulnerable seniors could end up suffering because of the sequester. >> i don't know that i could live on my own without that. >> the widow can't walk without assistance and cannot cook by herself. so you would imagine the excitement when she sees her every day at lunchtime. >> it provides a home, counseling, and education to homeless and runaway teens. >> if it goes away, obviously these young people would be on the streets. >> head start preschoolers sat down today for their lunch in one of the 11 classrooms. this program is losing $200,000 and it means one of the 11 classrooms will close. >> these cuts are hurting

senior, the homeless, and children. but for many republicans it seems like if they are out of sight, they are out of mind. joining me now are ben la bolt, press secretary for the obama cam bank and marie teresa kumar. how can they not pay attention to these programs? >> well, the fact that they couldn't get out of d.c. and immediately they took a red pen and said we're going to keep the air traffic controllers and defund head start, they are believing in class warfare, the folks that depend on our safety net are being left behind while they ar they are enjoying the riches

that washington gives to them. >> when you hear about maria talking about piecemeal, a house bill to get rid of cuts for cancer drugs would exempt chemotherapy drugs from budget cuts and it has 51 co-sons sors, including 11 democrats but these cuts for cancer drugs are obviously a huge issue. but how many piecemeal approaches are the republicans going to take? i mean, it's piecemeal that we see with air traffic control and now this. what are we looking at here, ben? >> that's their latest strategy. in the first place, they were stupid cuts. and then they accuse the president of exaggerating those budget cuts. the fact is, the children who are being affected by those cuts

don't have a microphone. the american people on election day voted for a balanced approach to reduce the deficit, which would include some spending cuts but included investments that strengthen the middle class and we've got to take a comprehensive approach to doing this. we cannot keep doing these one-off fixes for those with the most vulnerable being hit by the sequester cuts. >> now, the president, maria, said it very similar. he's called it band-aids, when he was talking about what they did to in-flight delays, he called it a band-aid solution. listen to this. >> congress passed a temporary fix, a band-aid. but these cuts are scheduled to keep falling across other parts of the government that provide vital services for the american people and we can't just keep putting band-aids on every cut. >> so maria, is that what we're going to keep seeing, republicans coming with band-aid solutions.

>> band-aid solutions to things that they care about and impact them immediately. but unfortunately they are not staying up at night wondering how meals on wheels and the individual in hospice care get the help they need and kids have a chance to go to school every day that are in head start. it's a miscalculation of how large this impact is. it's not the most vulnerable but also middle class americans and those middle class americans come out and vote come midterm election. i would caution the republicans and have them come together and come up with a solution because they are going to be incredibly vulnerable come the 2014 elections. >> it's amazing, ben, when you look at how they want to cut, cut, cut government, essential services, people that need government, they want to cut but when they want government to come in for them they believe in government.

look at areas where cuts are being prevented. here's another wrinkle to this. in wyoming, the tourist towns raise money for yellowstone. $170,600 was raised. roads into park will be cut. but things like head start and meals on wheels? >> well, you see them using what are basically earmarks to help out their personal priorities. but the fact is, they've said -- republicans always say that their biggest goals are to grow the economy and reduce the deficit. the sequester isn't getting the job done. it's going to shrink the economy. the growth rate is .6%. it's going to eliminate 750,000 jobs. everyone says you need a mix of spending cuts and smart investments for the middle class

and revenue to be able to reduce the deficit and grow the economy. and that's absolutely not what republicans are standing for here. >> i'm going to have to let it go there. maria teresa kumar and ben labolt. by the way, the media and the young and head start and seniors do have a microphone. 6:00 eastern time on msnbc is one of them. >> thank you, reverend. coming up, that seat rush sits in is getting hotter and hotter. is his ranting coming to an end or just going elsewhere? news on that tonight. and the president's positive message for the younger generation. stay with us. all stations come over to mission a for a final go.

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to make our world a little less imperfect. call... and ask about all the ways you could save. liberty mutual insurance -- responsibility. what's your policy? could we be seeing the end of rush limbaugh? he's been spewing rants like this on the airwaves. >> there's the gay mafia, for example. >> as the cdc ever published a story about the dangers catching diseases when you sleep with illegal aliens? and in obama's america, the white kids not get beat up with the black kids who cheer yeah,

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when you think about it, the thing that the right wing does best in this country is come up with conspiracy theories, the government is coming to take your guns, a threat to our democracy, an armed revolution is around the corner. listening to them, it's all doom and gloom coming from the right but over the weekend president obama went to ohio state university with a commencement message of hope and a call to reject the anti-government movement of the right. >> unfortunately, you've grown up hearing voices that incessantly warn of government as a separate, sinister entity at the root of all of our problems, that tyranny is around the corner.

you should reject these voices because what they suggest is that our brave, creative, unique experiment and self-rule is just a sham with which we can't be trusted. >> you should reject these voices. president obama said the country needs to be energized, they need to engage citizenship, one that works together. >> yours has become a generation possessed with the most american ideas, that people who love their country can change it for the better. we don't think the government is the source of all of our problems either. because we understand that this democracy is ours. and as citizens, we understand that it's not about what america can do for us, it's about what can be done by us together. through the hard and frustrating but absolutely necessary work of self-government. >> change isn't bad. it's necessary. it's part of what makes america

great. it's a progressive image that the rest of the country is behind. 83% support a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. 83% support background checks for gun violence. but on all of these issues, the right is resilient. the president has a message of hope. >> class of 2013, only you can break that cycle, only you can ensure that the democracy that you inherit issed a goose as we know it can be but it requires your engaged citizenship. and that's a higher road to take but leads to a better place. it's how we built this country, together. >> joining me now is jonathan

capehart and abby huntsman. it's pretty basic but these days it's a big deal. >> what? the president's message? >> yes. >> absolutely. >> but in these days, because of the extreme rhetoric, it becomes a big deal. >> yes, it is a big deal and i'm glad you shared the percentages for path to snin ship. what you have happening here is you have a country moving forward, that is advancing, progressing, if you will, and the people in the building behind me who are just not listening to the american people, for a bunch of folks fond of saying that they are listening to the voices of american people, which was a mantra among republicans, they are not listening on any of those issues. and they do so at their peril.

>> now, you know, abby, the president talked about the struggle for change. listen to this. >> it was young people just like you that secured women's rights and voting rights and gay rights, often at incredible odds, often at great danger, often over the course of year, sometimes over the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime and never got acknowledged for it but made a difference. >> those young people and others that struggled and made a difference, like your father and you and it may not be helpful to you guys in the republican circle for me to give you credit but they would say things that they believe to be right even if it wasn't popular at that given moment in a given crowd.

>> look, you have to give credit where credit is due. this was the speech that college graduates should be hearing and it's the message that i think they want to be hearing. it's ultimately up to the younger people. they have a responsibility to lead the debate and to demand change. you know, we need new thinking, we need new ideas. we're talking about the issues of the day, immigration, lgbt, it speaks to the globalizing world that we live in. it's going to come to the upcoming generation. we want change. we see how much we are progressing. it's going to be up to us. not up to the special interest groups that we're seeing on capitol hill. it's going to come down to our generation. >> you know, jonathan, these right. progressive policies is not just young people. when you look at the data and you referred to some of it

before, a lot of progressive poll teas are very progressive. 62% path to citizenship. 58% gun safety measures, 53% support same-sex marriage and 80% believe it's the same-sex marriage among young people, 70% of americans born after 1980 support same-sex marriage. now, if this is the direction that the country is going in, particularly young people can the right get on board when we see this generation come in to its maturity? >> well, it's going to have to get on board. remember the so-called republican party autopsy done earlier in late winter? we can't do governing program in

this party and moderate position on immigration and born after 1980, the way to do it is to have a more live and let live view of lgbt issues, on gay rights. if the republican party wants to be a serious national party rather than the reactionary original party that it has become, it's going to have to change and listen to those little men yell voices within its own party. people like abby huntsman and meghan mccain, i believe it was in a poll where it showed that an overwhelming majority of millenials who say that they are republicans favor marriage equality. the gop has to listen to those voi voices. >> you know, your father called

on the party to change. he recently said this, and i'm quoting him, i'm a lifelong republican and i want the party to succeed. i also know that the clock is ticking and the chances are pretty good we'll be out of office until 2024. what does the gop need to do to keep up with progressives, in your opinion? >> i'm with my dad. i'm a republican as well. the younger generation, we talk about government, i don't think it's about small government versus larger government. it's really about a government that best serves the american people. we want equality for all americans. i think president obama spoke to something so important, about citizenship, about serving your country. you know, we all live in our cul-de-sacs and reading whatever

blogosphere we want to read. we are all americans and we feed to come to some sort of compromise. i think republicans need to be willing to come to the table, willing to realize they have to compromise. >> you raise an excellent point. those that hate america sees us all as one and those who claim to love america most see us mostly divided and that should be the other way around. thank you both for your time. >> thanks. >> thanks, rev. ahead, the response ares are fleeing rush. is it the end of his hate on the public airwaves? plus, 50 years later, remembering how children stood up to shame adults into doing the right thing on civil rights. [ male announcer ] this is betsy.

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college coed susan fluke who says she must be paid to have sex? what does that make her? it makes her a slut, right? it makes her a prostitute. >> freedom of speech is one thing but what limbaugh said was ugly. it became a national story, leading to a major boycott by advertisers. but rush dismissed the backlash, even saying, quote, nobody is losing any money here. but today we're realizing that's just not true. rush is at war with the ceo of his radio network and he might leave because the ceo has blamed the advertising losses because of rush's comments about sandra

fluke. in fact, he says that rush's comments contributed to $5.5 million in losses last year. $5.5 million. so is this the end of rush's hate on the public airwaves? joining me now is dana milbank and james peterson. thank you for coming on the show tonight. >> thank you, rev. >> what do you make of what rush is finding himself? >> i'm not going to do a tap dance on rush limbaugh's grave yet. this is what happened to glenn beck. advertisers got more and more obscure advertisers paying less and less. you see a smaller version of that happening here. now, beck's situation was with fox news. this is different but it does show when people vote with their

wallets that is does have an effect here. this is not going to be the end of limbaugh but it shows even if he's able to say outrageous things politically, sort of the offensiveness with which he's able to say things, this may serve some warning to him. >> and i think you raise a good point about beck but i don't want anyone to think that you were tap dancing on anyone's grave. but i'll let that go. james, let me say to you one thing i think that comes out of this that is already positive for those of us that talked to limbaugh and his advertisers, this does confirm that these kinds of appeals to advertisers work, that it's not as limbaugh tries to tell beck that these things don't cause money and effect. >> that's exactly right.

kudos to the flush rush campaign and stop rush hash tag and other networks that drew attention to this and kudos to san dr. fluke who stood tall. what's interesting here is that the whole model around conservative talk radio is becoming more and more complicated for the way media works. someone like rush limbaugh is very, very good at consolidating niche markets, conservatives into one. advertisers are not always aware of how these ads are placed. an issue like this makes them go, whoa, we're advertising this show? that domino effect is impacting across the nation. >> now, today, dana, limbaugh didn't really address the controversy but he made sure to praise himself, overly reminding people of, well, let me let you hear what he said.

>> greetings, my friends, another exciting sterling week broadcasters heading your way, the most listened radio talk show. ladies and gentlemen, i, america's anchor man, the doctor of democracy, and america's truth detector all combined one harmless, loveable, little fuzz ball package. >> little fuzz ball package. it's almost like a guy being on that long trying to sell himself again. maybe that was his reaction to being a contributor to a $5.5 million loss? >> see, here i was calling you america's anchor man, reverend al. but never a little fuzz ball. you know, this is sort of rush limbaugh's schtick.

he doesn't want to get into the loss of advertisers and listeners because people listening will say, wait a minute, why am i still listening to this stuff? and that's the conundrum here that rush limbaugh and right wing radio has never been influential here in washington. people are just -- the republicans are just scared to death of defying these guys yet at the same time you see all of these. >> these guys, all jokes aside, if rush limbaugh's voice was lessened, it would have serious political ramifications. it's not like these guys move the dowel. the president even said "if a republican member of congress is

not punished on fox news or by rush limbaugh for working with a bill of common interest, then you'll see more of them doing it." so if his voices lessened or his microphone volume is brought down, is it could have serious consequences in trying to bring people together on issues that he keeps us so polarized. >> it absolutely could. we'll see what the impact is. the companies that pulled out, geiko, capital one, it has cascaded through the entire radio network. to be honest with you, it's the same challenges presented to the republican party, which is that you can talk to that niche, to that small sort of reserve of your base but you're not going to be a political force in this

nation unless you open up and speak to the entire demographic of the american populous. >> there's not enough people in that niche. thank you both for your time this evening. >> thank you, reverend. >> thanks, rev. ahead, when children stood up to adults in the name of civil rights. the heroes of the children's crusade. that's next. [ male announcer ] from red lobster's chefs to your table

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your chance to rise and shine. with centurylink as your trusted technology partner, you can do just that. with our visionary cloud infrastructure, global broadband network and custom communications solutions, your business is more reliable - secure - agile. and with responsive, dedicated support, we help you shine every day of the week. this weekend we marked the 50th anniversary of a milestone in the civil rights movement. when children literally stood up to shame adults into doing the right thing. athey were inspired by martin

luther king who was arrested days earlier and led by the infamous chief police was unimaginable. police used firehoses to stop the children in their tracks. police dogs were unleashed on the young protesters, more than 2500 children were arrested. the memory of those terrible days linger 50 years later. >> my arm broke right here. it was a day of terrorism. that's exactly what it was. turned dogs on children and have them attack them and when they jump at their throats. yeah, it was violence. it was bigotry. it was hatred, bloodshed. >> the courageous acts of these

children galvanize public opinion and helped push president kennedy into civil rights legislation a few weeks later. these children weren't political props, they were standing up for what they knew was right, 50 years later their actions still have meaning for all of us. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. a gun in every hand. let's play "hardball." good evening, i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start tonight with this. the nra wants you armed. they want you carrying a gun. preferably in way that everyone can see. you know, like in the cowboy movies but better than cowboys,